jo_ayley

I am designing an on-line form and wondered if anyone had any comments re using Illustrator over any other software i.e. Word or Quark?

The form will be sent to people who will then be required to fill in the appropriate information and return it to me.

Is this an easy task in Illustrator, does anybody know?

Many thanks.

james_e._talmage

Acrobat is the Adobe app with forms capability. You can build the attractive form layout in Illustrator, simply save it as a PDF, open it in Acrobat and use Acrobat's forms tools to populate it with editable forms (even add calculation scripts to the fields).

Unfortunately, though, in order for the recipients to return the filled-in form, you have to employ server-side technology because Reader's Save function is disabled, and Acrobat does not let you activate it in the forms you create.

So this potentially wonderful feature languishes for many practical uses we everyday graphics users might devise, and an ordinary HTML based form is probably the way for you pursue (GoLive).

JET

jo_ayley

James

How typical is that! A great function that doesn't work!

Many thanks for your input.

By "fill in and return" do you mean print the page, fill it out, and mail or fax it to you? If so, you'll need to send them (or post) a pdf. You can build the file in Quark, InDesign, or Illustrator (it's going to come down to a matter of personal preference) but if you want other people to be able to open and print the file they'll probably need to have it as a pdf.

If you need the data returned to you electronically, html and javascript is probably your only option, unless everyone you send it to is known to have one of the applications on your list. For the REALLY low tech crowd I sometimes email or post a text-only version of forms, which can be opened and edited in any text reader.